The Problems of Using Portables

One of the ever-present design consequences of notebook computers is compromise. For every element that you add to a laptop, there is another element that suffers as a result. For example, adding a larger screen lessens a notebook's portability. A brighter screen results in shorter battery endurance . A larger hard drive means less room for other devices.

Because of these compromises, laptops are not perfect systems. While providing many benefits, they do have a few shortcomings.

More Expensive

There is, as they say, no free lunch . The extra versatility of the notebook computer comes at a price ”in this case, a literal one (refer to Table 1.12). When desktop and notebook systems with similar features are compared, the desktop is significantly less expensive. Even when you even the playing field by saddling a desktop with a sleek flat-screen display, the desktop still has the financial edge. The one price advantage of a notebook is that in many cases the purchase of a single notebook will avoid the need to purchase two desktops.

Table 1.12. Price Comparison: Desktop Versus Notebook

Feature	Desktop	Notebook
System	Dell Dimension 8250	Dell Inspiron 5100
Processor	Intel 2.53GHz Pentium 4; 533MHz bus	Intel 2.53GHz Pentium 4 (non-mobile CPU); 533MHz bus
Memory	256MB	256MB
Hard drive	120GB	40GB
Display	15-inch flat panel	15-inch flat panel
Video accelerator	64MB Nvidia GeForce4 MX	32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
Optical drives	48x Combo DVD/CD-RW	24x Combo DVD/CD-RW
Net cost	$1,412	$1,620
Difference (%)		15% higher

Note that the notebook in this comparison uses a desktop-type Pentium 4, which is extremely power-hungry and will compromise battery life. Dell offers more expensive models with true mobile processors. Also, the hard drive is only one-third the capacity of the desktop system, and the optical drive is half as fast. As you can see, you get much less performance and capacity for much more money with a notebook system, which has to be factored in.

Increased Risk of Loss

It is highly unlikely that some unfortunate person has lost a desktop computer because he or she simply left it on a train. But, that same regrettable mishap occurs every day in the laptop world. The simple fact is that because notebook computers are frequently taken out into the rough-and-tumble real world, they often fall victim to many more calamities than do the desktops in the well-sheltered office.

Perhaps the biggest risk for notebooks is physical damage caused by drops . Rare is the case where a desktop simply falls off a table, but it is all too common for someone to walk by a table and trip over a carelessly placed phone line, sending a poor notebook flying to the floor on the other side of the room. Other careless people have been known to leave notebooks on the roofs of their cars and then drive off. The real world is populated with laptop carrying cases whose shoulder straps never seem to break unless the user is walking on concrete. And what about liquid damage? Spilling a cup of coffee on a desktop keyboard means that a $50 component needs to be replaced . The same mishap on a laptop keyboard can lead to much greater damage.

In addition to notebooks being damaged, we must also consider their unfortunate tendency to disappear. Desktop theft is, of course, a serious problem, but it pales in comparison to notebook theft. Because notebooks are so easy to carry and so profitable in terms of price per pound , these devices are a frequent target for thieves. Often the monetary value of a notebook's hardware, however, is much less valuable than the information contained on its hard drive. Notebooks may be stolen not by thieves but by industrial spies.

Smaller Screens and Keyboards

Compared to models of only a few years ago, today's notebooks have sizable screens and comfortable keyboards. In comparison with desktops, however, these features tend to lose some of their brilliance. Although notebooks may have screens that measure 15 and even 16 inches, it is not uncommon to see desktop monitors in the 19- and 21-inch range. In the same way, most notebooks have the same 19mm key pitch as on desktop keyboards, but desktops offer much more space to provide such niceties as true numeric keypads and a handy inverted-T cursor key set.

Slower System Speed

Because of advances in system design, it has become harder to make a simple comparison of the performance of desktops with that of notebooks. A few years ago, you could get a fair estimate of system speed by examining the processor clock speed, the amount and type of memory, the size of the processor's memory caches, and the type of hard drive used. Now we need to examine all these areas plus two additional factors: the type of video accelerator used and the amount of video memory. Because most of today's most popular computer tasks require frequent screen updates, the speed of the video system is vitally important. This is particularly true in entertainment- related tasks such as DVD videos and electronic gaming.

Although the power of notebooks has increased substantially over time, there is still a slight lag in power between the average desktop and notebook. Most of the problem is due to the extra time needed by component manufacturers to design power-saving versions of the high-speed components used in desktops. For example, the low-power mobile version of a 2.4MHz processor will appear 6 “12 months after the power-guzzling desktop version.

To avoid this delay, some notebook manufacturers in the past year or two have opted to sacrifice battery endurance to increase performance. They have begun incorporating desktop processor chips inside their systems. But, even in these cases, the slower speed of the surrounding components results in a system that is measurably slower than a top-of-the-line desktop.

If leading-edge performance is absolutely critical for your application ”or if you need the fastest possible game-playing machine in order to master a certain online game tournament ”a high-end desktop is still your best choice.

Upgrades Are More Difficult

If you have ever looked inside a laptop, you will wonder how the manufacturer was ever able to cram so many components into such a small space. Indeed, the miniaturization employed on an average notebook makes it very difficult to upgrade them to any substantial degree.